Exploring visual journalism

The wind at your door, literally

Last year, the month of April had a record-breaking 600 tornadoes nationwide. With this past weekend’s wave of deadly storms, this April may not break that record but it’s still in the position to beat the past decade’s average of 160. The following collection of photos illustrates both the allure and grave danger severe weather brings this time of year.

A tornado on the ground makes it way through the night near Salin, Kansas, during the third day of severe weather and multiple tornado sightings, April 14, 2012. A spate of tornadoes tore through parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa, churning through Wichita and other areas, causing widespread damage and killing two. (Gene Blevins/Reuters)

A tornado makes its way through farmlands near Rush Center, Kansas, during the third day of severe weather and multiple tornado sightings, April 14, 2012. (Gene Blevins/Reuters)

Edie Paroish, 3, of Woodward, Oklahoma, plays on a slide in front of a destroyed home following a tornado that struck the town April 15, 2012. Rescue and clean-up efforts were underway across the Midwest on Sunday after dozens of tornadoes tore through the region, killing at least five people in Oklahoma, leaving thousands without power in Kansas and damaging up to 90 percent of the homes and buildings in one small Iowa town. (Jeff Tuttle/Reuters)

Two funnel clouds are seen over Moundridge, Kansas, during the third day of severe weather and multiple tornado sightings, April 14, 2012. (Gene Blevins/Reuters)

A severe thunder storm supercell moves above the ground near the small town of Stratton, Nebraska April 12, 2012. (Gene Blevins/Reuters)

A lightning strike is seen near the water tower of Benkelman, Nebraska April 12, 2012. (Gene Blevins/Reuters)

A trailer flies through the air as a tornado sweeps through the Dallas-Fort Worth area April 3, 2012 in this still image taken from video. One or more tornadoes touched down in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area on Tuesday, tossing tractor trailer trucks into the air and causing some damages to homes, according to local television. (Reuters)

A tornado causes damages at the Schneider National’s Trucking Hub in South Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday, April 3, 2012. (Khampha Bouaphanh/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT)

Destroyed homes and debris cover the ground as a second storm moves in on May 23, 2011 in Joplin, Missouri. A powerful tornado ripped through the densely populated town of Joplin on May 22 killing at least 89 people. (Julie Denesha/Getty Images)

People try to salvage items from the Albrecht family home (C) after it was destroyed when a massive tornado passed through the town killing at least 116 people May 24, 2011 in Joplin, Missouri. The tornado that ripped through the town of about 50,000 people May 22, is being called the deadliest single tornado in the U.S. in 60 years. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Debris flies through the air as a freak tornado tears through the Australian coastal town of Lennox Head on June 3, 2010. The storm leveled 12 homes and damaged another 30, with twisting winds carving out a 300 metre-wide path of destruction, injuring six people and leaving thousands without power. (Ross Tuckerman/AFP/Getty Images)

James Devaney searches through the debris of his daughter’s home on County Rd. 183 in the Aldridge Grove community of Lawrence County, Alabama, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008. Devaney’s daughter Becky Coleman was killed along with her son Gerreck and her husband Greg when the tornado hit at 3:06 a.m. (Gary Cosby Jr./The Decatur Daily,AP Photo)

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, a thin, rope-like tornado dips toward the ground on April 23, 2006. Come spring, tour participants traverse the highways and byways of the Great Plains, hoping to see such thrilling, and terrible, manifestations of nature. (Robin Rauzi/Los Angeles Times)

University of Iowa sophomore Jessica Fischels stands in the remains of her apartment in Iowa City, Iowa, Friday April 14, 2006, after it was destroyed by tornado Thursday night. (Matthew Holst/Iowa City Press Citizen/AP Photo)

A large waterspout (tornado) from the first feeder bands of Hurricane Wilma approach Key West, Florida, as a man walks on the beach Sunday, October 23, 2005.(Tim Chapman/Miami Herald)

Storms caused by Hurricane Ivan produced this funnel cloud that appears over eastern Stafford County, Virgina, September 17, 2004. Virginia residents from Fauquier to King George and Caroline counties were effected by the rash of tornadoes spawned by hurricanes Frances and Ivan. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star/AP Photo)

Motorists head eastbound on Homewood Road (east of Folly Quarter Road) in front of the leading edge of a line of severe storms that reportedly spawned a tornado in Montgomery County. (David Hobby/Baltimore Sun)

Young Hollywood, Maryland residents wait for crabs to bite on their lines on the Town Creek Marina waterfront in St. Mary’s County as lightning pummels Point Patience, across the Patuxent River in Calvert County Tue., August 4, 2003. The group didn’t catch any crabs but caught a good view of some natural fireworks on an evening of harsh thunderstorms that created nickel- sized hail and generated tornado warnings in the southern region. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)

A tornado begins to form near Red Rock, Oklahoma, Thursday evening, May 8, 2003. The storm tracked northeast from this point, passing north of Pawhuska and Bartlesville. (James Gibbard/Tulsa World/AP Photo)

Shantsy Hardwick, 9, retrieves clothing from the rubble of the mobile home that she and her mother were in when a tornado struck and demolished it early Thursday, March 20, 2003 in Camilla, Georgia. They suffered only minor injuries, but at least six people were killed by the storm. (Todd Stone/(AP Photo)

The funnel cloud of an F5 tornado passes right by the wall of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power plant, after touching down in La Plata, MD. (Photo by a Calvert Cliffs employee who wants to remain anonymous)

A tornado-like funnel cloud touches down near Interstate 81 in Shenandoah County, Virginia., near the Shenandoah Caverns exit, Sunday, April 28, 2002, as a rainbow appears. The photographer was traveling south on I-81 from New Jersey when he saw an overturned tractor trailer in the north-bound lane and debris from a chicken coop strewn on the highway. At that point, he saw the twister and stopped just long enough to capture the violent storm with his camera. (Joe Stegle/The Daily News Record/AP Photo)

Steven Edwards, director of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute stands amid the remains of the institute on the University of Maryland Campus destroyed by a tornado. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun)

A large violent tornado with winds of 3000mph narrowly misses the Jordan Unit Prison near Hoover, TX on June 8,1995. (Martin Lisius)

In the poem “The Wind at Your Door,” R.D. Fitzgerald references the atrocities of the past blowing into present day Australian society. Despite the differences in subject matter, not to mention continents, I couldn’t help but think about this poem while reading about the deadly storms this past weekend. Being from Iowa, tornadoes have always been a threat from April to August. The horrendous tornado damage to the town of Parkersburg in 2008 was only 25 miles from where I grew up. Imagine my surprise to read that I’m more likely to witness a tornado since moving to Baltimore because Maryland is third on the list of “Top Tornado States.”

It should also be no surprise that “tornado voyeurism” is a widespread hobby today, despite the injuries involved with this dangerous curiosity. Admittedly, I am one of those voyeurs. However, if it came down to putting myself in a situation where I could capture one of these amazing images, my handful of tornado touchdown experiences speak for themselves. Duck and cover beats chase and record every time.

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